“Would you be willing to sign and share the petition we are launching to narrow the gap between rich and poor through action to share wealth and ownership in a co-operative way? You can do so online at www.uk.coop/yourstoshare/petition ”

Petition text

I want to narrow the gap between rich and poor, through action to share ownership and wealth in a co-operative way.

The gap between rich and poor is widening. One half of the UK population now owns just one percent of the wealth. A generation ago, they had twelve per cent.

Unlike bankers’ bonuses, giving employees, consumers and residents a wider share of ownership and wealth is good for society and the economy.

Co-operatives and mutuals are businesses that are owned by members and share their profits.

We are calling on government to support action to share ownership and wealth in a co-operative way by:

encouraging business to share profits with staff, customers and communities more widely;

promoting community ownership as one way to save lifeline services, such as village shops and pubs, and enable people to take action on housing, arts, sport, land, finance and green energy;

cutting red tape so that it is as easy to start a co-operative as any other form of business.

One Response to A petition on action to share wealth & ownership in a co-operative way

Ed Mayo is wrong. Co-operative are NOT businesses that are “owned by members”.
Indeed the main and only distinctive feature of Co-ops and Mutuals is that they are not owned by anyone, with “ownership” playing no part in control or distribution of rewards.

You do of course get exclusive rights by belonging to a Co-op; but you do not (wiithout demutualisation) get the exclusive rights of ownership. Your belonging to “it”, does not mean that “it!, in any way, belongs to you.